Lovely 10 miles

After dropping both boys at their respective schools and dropping a few dollars at Tarjay (I found two bathing suits! 2!), I headed out for a run.  The weather today was beautiful - sunny and about 50 degrees.  I wanted to do at least 8 miles, but was hoping to be closer to 13.  I set a goal pace of 9:30 minutes per mile and headed out.

I ran over to the park where I ran the 12K race a while back and followed the trail for a bit.  I don't usually run on the trails as many are fairly secluded and there have been some crimes in previous years.  The one I ran on today was perfect though.  It ran near enough neighborhoods and parks that I felt safe, yet kept me from having to deal with traffic lights and auto exhaust.  Thankfully, it also went right past a park with bathroom facilities.

I ended up doing 10 miles in 1:34:52.  Thanks to a bathroom stop (where I did actually stop Garmin), a funeral procession that involved a whole lot of Harleys, and a random phone call, I ran out of time.  Tapering finally makes sense to me.  I could not have run much faster than I did today.  My legs were just tired.  I ran for speed on Saturday, an easy run on Sunday, and did a serious cross training workout yesterday (squats and step while holding Shoo).  This run felt much harder than my faster and hillier half marathon race a few weeks ago.

I'll do a few more short runs before we head out, but I'm mostly going to be spending the next few days packing.  I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I'm getting there. ;o)

Today's stats:

Running - 10 miles in 1:34:52

Walking - 1.5 miles

Strength - abs

Gonna be sore tomorrow

Shoo and I had our weekly exercise class today.  Most weeks, he runs around the room, while I'm able to get a workout in.  Today he alternated between being clingy and trying to prevent me from doing what I was supposed to do.  This made my workout amazingly harder.  When he was clinging, it was just an extra 35 pounds while doing step and squats.  It was a little more challenging when I was trying to do situps with him pushing my shoulders back down.  The most difficult part, however, was pushing up to the plank position with him lying on my back.  I may not be able to lift my arms tomorrow LOL.

We've started looking at houses to rent in Rockland, ME for our vacation.  We did that a few years ago in Ithaca, NY and it was awesome to have so much space and not have to eat out every meal.   Beer Geek is already researching cool things to do and I got a comment recently that let us know of a lighthouse to visit.  Have I mentioned Beer Geek loves lighthouses?  Um, yeah.  I think it ranks below beer, but definitely up there with weird geographical stuff and ferries.  His nickname is making more and more sense, isn't it? LOL

Four days until Florida.  I'm really excited about the warmer weather and seeing my family.  I'm so not excited about wearing my bathing suit and shorts.  I haven't gained much, but it's apparently enough that nothing fits quite right.  I doubt I can blame the dryer for all of my summer clothes being too small.   Sigh.  I'd even be ok with buying some bigger stuff, but when I'm at this weight, my proportions get messed up.  I'm so bottom heavy that by the time I get stuff to fit my legs and backside, the waists are huge!  Whine, whine, whine.  I know, I could have bigger problems than a well-endowed backside.

Edited to add:  At the rate I'm going, it's going to take me a year to get the blog looking right.  I did discover that, while I love my Mac, I don't always love the touchpad.  I've found sometimes it's easier to make the changes in html, than try to drag something with the stupid pad.  I did manage to wipe out my google analytics for a day.  Think maybe that's when I finally got hits from North Dakota and South Dakota (the only two states that have never given me any hits).  OK, maybe I'm getting a little obsessive about the 50 states LOL.

Today's stats:

Walking - 1.5 miles

Cross training - 1 hour

Busy Weekend: Beer, Water, and Running

Beer

Saturday night we hosted our annual Holiday Beer tasting. We had 10 friends and their children over for a dinner of sausages, picnic foods, and good beer. Unlike previous years where we tasted too many beers, this year Beer Geek chose 10 of our usual favorites*, as well as 5 years of the Alaskan Smoked Porter** to taste. It was quite a yummy event.  (As you can see above, more than those 1o beers were tasted LOL).

Five years of Alaskan Smoked Porters

Jones' beer cap collection from the evening

Water

Today we took the boys to a local park that has a stream running through it.  Thanks to the rain we received last week, the water was pretty high.  The boys sailed some "boats" (pieces of wood and leaves) and tossed a few rocks.  Then we came to a spot where the water was flowing over the low concrete bridge.  Another family was there and their older son had created a dam, so the boys were able to play in the slightly more than ankle deep water.   Shoo ended up so wet that we had to wrap him in a towel for the walk home.  Yay mommy for remembering a towel, although the planned usage was to dry feet, not keep a soaked child warm LOL.  When Beer Geek and the boys headed home, I went for a quick run.  As you can see, I had my Garmin on the whole time.  I discovered that if you forget to turn it off and use your hands while talking, you can add to the distance reading LOL.

Running

Saturday morning I decided to get my hard run of the weekend out of the way before the drinking.  I know I run well with a hangover, but I didn't want to risk not doing my planned speedwork.  I wanted to try to do 4x half mile repeats.  I've only tried repeats once before, so I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing.  I figured I'd aim for 4:15, but apparently I'm faster than I realized as I did them in 4:04, 3:55, 3:55, and 4:07.  I think I need to recover longer before the last one as I found it really difficult to get back up to my fast pace at the beginning of the half mile and had to really push myself at the end to come in where I wanted to be.  I had to walk for a minute or so after.  I ended up doing a little over 5 miles.

Today I did a leisurely 3.5 miles.  It was in the low 70s and my legs were tired, so it felt like I was moving slowly, but my splits for the first three were 9:11, 9:04, 8:55.  I was surprised, as I really felt like I wasn't moving very fast!

All in all it was an excellent weekend.  Now I'm just waiting to hear the reports from Melanie's 30K and tfh's marathon...

*For anyone who cares, the beers we tasted were: Pike Auld Acquaintance Hoppy Holiday Ale, Lazy Boy Brewery Mistletoe Bliss, Delirium Noel 2007, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, Gouden Carolus Noel, Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale, Harpoon Winter Warmer, Allagash Dubbel, Alaskan Winter Ale, and Anchor Christmas.  As happens many years, Harpoon was my favorite.

** We tasted 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008 of the Alaskan Smoked Porters.  2003 was the bleh, but it's never been a favorite.   2004 was absolutely perfect.  I have a feeling we'll be downing a number of those this year, so as to enjoy it when it's at its best.  2008 and 2007 were too "new".  They need a few years of aging before they'll be really good.  As you might notice, we don't have 2005.  Shoo was born about the time of year that ASP comes out.  Since I'm in charge of beer acquisition in this family, it just didn't happen that year. :o(

Back to Maine

So, I've been dragging my feet on registering for the Toronto race.  Not sure why, but I just wasn't feeling the love.  Yesterday, I found a Maine race!  I'm so excited!!

It's the Maine Lobster Festival 10K in Rockland, Maine.  It's a day after the one I tried to get in, which actually works better because it gives us an extra day to get up there.   We are going to rent a house in the area for a week and check out all the cool stuff around there.   We were up that way 15 years ago on our very first vacation together, so I really can't wait.  This time we'll have a house! with beds! and running water!  (We camped last time and I'm not much of a camper.  I love outdoor stuff, but I want a shower and a cushy bed at the end of the day.)

Tomorrow night is our big beer tasting with our friends.  I can hear Beer Geek putting the beer in the fridge right now.  I'm going to run at least four miles tomorrow morning so that I can wait until Sunday afternoon to run.  

Yesterday's stats:

Running - 3.5 miles in 30:30

Walking - none because of the rain

Strength - upper body

Today:

Walking - at least 6 miles

Strength - abs

Apologies for my blog looking sort of weird right now.  I started playing with the code (woot, I used my brain!), but I still have a lot I want to do and not a lot of time to do it.

It's all about the tempo

Today's topic over at the Runners' Lounge is speed.   I'm not speedy, comparatively speaking, but I've been working hard at increasing my speed this winter and have been pretty successful.   Last year when I was training for the marathon, I didn't do any speedwork at all and found that I'd slowed down quite a bit, even at shorter distances.

My goal this spring was to get my speed back at least to where it was and to increase the distance I could stay at that speed.  I'm happy to say I've accomplished that goal!   I recently ran a half marathon at an average pace of 9:07, which is about where my speed was pre-marathon.  Now I have a goal of finishing a half in under 9 minute miles (and I'll be happy with 8:59 LOL).

To reach my goal, I incorporated fartleks, intervals, repeats, and tempos.  While I'm sure they all helped some, the run that seems to make the biggest difference in my speed over long distances is the tempo.  I've increased the distance of my tempo runs to at least 6, sometimes 7 miles.  I try to do the middle 3 at a pace close to my 5k pace of 8:25.  I've found that I then have to really slow down for a half mile or so, but if I keep running, I can pick back up to close to a 9 minute mile.  I'm convinced (whether it's the truth or not) that adding the extra miles after the fast running has made a huge difference in my ability to run stronger for longer.  

Oh, and beer.  Beer apparently is my other secret.  For some reason, the carbs in beer really seem to set me up for a nice speedy run.  Good thing too 'cause I really like good beer.  (Is that a bit of an understatement? LOL)

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It's a cold, rainy day here today, so I'm not sure I'm going to get any walking in.  We actually drove to school this morning.  I will hit the treadmill this afternoon when Beer Geek gets home, so I'll get at least a little bit of a workout.  And I get to drag Shoo on another round of shorts shopping.  I got the shorts I ordered from Old Navy yesterday and they don't fit.  I need to find a brand that caters to "curvy" women.  

10 days until Key West!  My dad and I are signing up for an Earth Day 5k to knock out Florida.  If I get a chance to do a longer race there sometime, I'll do it, but I'm not going to let the lack of a long race stand in the way of finishing the 50 by 50.  ;o)  

Taking my life in my hands

I headed out for a quick three mile run today after Beer Geek got home.   The plan was to run for 30 minutes at whatever pace felt good and call it a day.  As I crossed the major road that cuts our neighborhood in half, I noticed a lot more cars then normal.   Apparently, there was a fender bender on one of the roads that acts as a boundary to our neighborhood, so a lot of people were being forced into the residential neighborhood as part of their commute.  I felt like I spent the whole run dodging lost drivers.  Not fun.

I also felt like I was carrying a bowling ball in my belly while I was running.   Shoo and I were forced to wait on lunch until almost one o'clock.  We shared an apple, but I was pretty ravenous by the time we had access to the kitchen again.  (Nothing serious, just the maid service).  I had a slice of cheese while I waited for the soup to heat.  Then I discovered that I didn't like the soup (luckily Shoo did and he ate most of the can) , so I had more cheese, a pita, some almonds, some plantain chips,...  I was so hungry that my body didn't seem to realize when I hit full.   I just kept eating.  Ugh!  Even when my mind was saying that I should have had enough to eat, my belly was screaming for more.   All that food just sat there while I ran. 

Not that that stopped me from having two margaritas, some queso dip, and a half a burrito while out at a Mom's Night Out tonight.  And I wonder why the scale doesn't budge and my shorts don't fit.  (And earlier I was thinking "wow, no alcohol in a while".  LOL My run should be awesome tomorrow).

Today's stats:

Running - 3.23 miles in 30 minutes

Walking - 2.5 miles

Strength - lower body

Triple whammy

Not only did I not get my 5 hours of freedom (AKA Shoo in preschool), but I had to co-op today, which meant I got to spend those 5 hours playing with other people's children.  As an added bonus, I got to be in the infant/young toddlers room.  The day went fine, but I'm not a big fan of the younger set.  I have a low threshold for crying and at one point, more than half of the 7 were crying at the same time.  I think I had a child in my arms the entire day and I'm exhausted!  (Don't get me wrong, I'm good with them, I just would prefer older kids).

When Beer Geek got home and heard that I had spent the day in that room, he told me to go for as long a run as I needed LOL.  I ended up doing 4.5 miles, 4 of which were 9 minute miles or a bit faster.  My worst mile was slow because I was carrying Jones' lunchbox under my arm.  He'd forgotten it at school, so I ran over and picked it up.  I have a new respect for football players who sprint the length of the field with the ball.  LOL  It felt extremely strange to hold one of my arms mostly still while running.

Todays stats:

Running - 4.5 miles in 40:55

Walking - 1.5 miles

Baby wrangling - 5 hours

Strength training - abs

I'm ready for bed!

I got nothin'

No beer today.

No running today.

No kids calling me funny names.

Today was just a nice, typical day in my life.  

I've been trying to walk more on days when I'm not running.  I've realized I'm not likely to get much above 25 miles per week running any time soon.  I just don't have the time and I'm not fast enough to add more distance in the time I do have.  So, I'm going to add mileage in the form of walking to do as many of my errands as I can.   Today Shoo (in a stroller for the most part) and I walked at least 7 miles.  We walked Jones to school, then walked to our exercise class, then home (with stops at multiple playgrounds), then walked and picked up Jones.  When we got home, we played baseball in the front yard for about 45 minutes. 

A quiet day was nice.  Things start picking up tomorrow morning.  I have to co-op at Shoo's preschool (hopefully not in the infant room!).  Then Wednesday is a mom's night out, Friday is a coffee at my house.  Saturday will be a night to write a post about.  We are hosting our annual Holiday beer tasting (yes, I know it's March.  Everyone was just really busy this year).  We'll be drinking a large percentage of the beers in the picture from a few weeks ago.   I'm thinking maybe I'll try to do my speed work on Saturday, but maybe I should wait since alcohol has been working so well for me LOL.  

Somehow I need to find time in there to run the 14 miles I have left to hit 20 for the week....

Hooray for Spring 6 miler report

I woke up this morning feeling like this:

We went to the Auction for Jones' school last night.  Since I'm a beer connoisseur (ok, maybe more of a beer snob), I wasn't interested in drinking the beer that was available.  The venue also didn't allow red wine (my next favorite drink).  So, I ended up drinking a lovely fruity drink with vodka.  I hadn't eaten much dinner as I planned to take full advantage of the yummy stuff available there.  Somehow, that didn't happen and the drinks went down too easily and I ended up, well, let's just say I didn't feel so great at church this morning.

The original plan was to do a 6 mile tempo run between church and lunch, but that was quickly changed to a plan of running a 6K easy run sometime in the afternoon.  Finally, around 3:30 pm, I decided I was feeling good enough to run.

I had a goal of averaging under 9 minute miles.  My first two miles were right on target (8:48, 8:50), but I decided to push myself for mile 3 since I didn't plan to run the full 6.  I ran one of my fastest miles ever - 8:18!  At that point, I wasn't sure if I was approaching the puke threshold from the speed or the hangover.  I was definitely sweating out some vodka.  I slowed down for the next bit and ended up running 3 more miles and making it the full six miles (8:45, 8:58, 8:52).   Apparently drinking and running works for me.  Maybe it's the carbs?

Thanks to RunningLaur for hosting the race.  I never would have run today if I hadn't HAD to.  

For those who care, the basket went for about $55, which was more than it cost to put together.  Our beer dinner went for about the same.  Unless we have a rockin' time at the beer dinner, I think next year we'll just donate a basket.  

And the truth comes out

Yesterday, when we were walking to school, I told Jones to get up on the sidewalk, instead of the street.   

His response?  "But, mom, you're a street walker."

And that folks, is apparently how I afford to be a stay at home mom and still stimulate the "econonmy". LOL

In other news, I had a really good three mile run yesterday.  My legs felt awesome and I finished in 25:45.  The best part was that while it felt like I was running fast, I felt great the whole time.  It used to be that if I ran at that pace, I'd be near puking at the end.  Woohoo for results from tempo runs.

The big auction is tomorrow, so soon we'll know if anyone else at Jones' school appreciates a good beer!  

Happy spring, everyone!  Hope your weekend is filled with great weather, good running, and good beer (or wine)!

Spring Training

Today's topic over at the Runner's Lounge is "Spring Training".  I'm a big fan of spring (not so much of summer).  It's my favorite time of the year.  

My tips:

1)  Make sure you have some variety - there are a lot of options out there.  One day have a pilsner, another day a hefeweizen, another a pale ale.  If you are in serious training, try a combination to keep things fresh.

2)  Get outside - after a winter of drinking by the fire, it's time to get out and enjoy the weather.  Have a beer in your backyard.  Hit the local outdoor cafe.  Take a beer along on a picnic.

3)  Get other people involved - it's time to get out of hibernation.  Throw a party.  Introduce a newbie to the glories of good beer.  Find a festival.

Oh, wait, the topic was spring training for running, not drinking.  Oops.  Well, really, those tips work just as well.  Throw some variety in your runs.   Look for new routes, new hills, new speedwork.  Get off the treadmill and enjoy the lovely spring weather.  Take advantage of the different times of day to run.  Run with friends.  Find a new runner and run a few miles with them at their pace.

I trained pretty hard this winter, so I'm not expecting to see major improvements this spring.  I am, however, looking forward to WANTING to run again.  Running in the cold or on the treadmill is a lot more forced than running in glorious weather is.

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I ended up changing out a couple of beers for the basket.  I found Starr Hill Jomo this morning and Williamsburg AleWerks Ale at the local Whole Foods.  I discovered that I can indeed carry two six packs of beer in my Mountain Buggy stroller.  Since this meant I did not have to drive anywhere and I don't have to worry about dealing with the refrigerated beer, I am a happy camper.  Hopefully the winner of the basket will be happy.

My legs are feeling better, so hopefully I'll have a nice run this afternoon.  It's a little rainy, but as long as it's not pouring, I plan to head outside.

Beer Wednesday

I put together the regional beer basket for the auction at Jones' school.  If you notice, one beer is missing.  We bought a Lager from Blue and Gray Brewery, but it has to be refrigerated.  I have to decide whether to include a note that I'll deliver that beer or include a NY beer or both.  Any opinions?

Virginia Beers:  

Dominion Baltic Porter

Blue Mountain Evil-8

Starr Hill Dark Starr Stout (which I need to go buy tomorrow morning.  Apparently we drank all of ours)

Blue and Gray Lager

Delaware Beers:

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Fordham Scotch Ale
Maryland Beers:

Clay Pipe Hopocalypse

Clipper City Small Craft Warning

Pennsylvania Beers:

Victory Old Horizontal

Erie Railbender Ale

Lancaster Milk Stout

Troegs Mad Elf

I've also included a silver bucket from Starr Hill, a coaster from Devil's Backbone, a small glass from Blue Mountain and a beer opener from Blue and Gray.

Anything you think I should add or change?  I have to turn it in tomorrow, but I can change things tomorrow morning.

And since this is a running blog - I didn't run today. ;o) 

When all else fails, run!

Today was my free day.  After I dropped Shoo off at preschool, I planned to run some errands, go to the eye dr.'s and then catch up on a backlog of stuff from my various volunteer positions.  I managed to buy a couple of pairs of shorts and then went to my appointment.  I hadn't been in a while, so I completely forgot how absolutely annoying it is to have dilated eyes.    I could barely buy the few things I needed from the grocery store (couldn't see the credit card slip AT ALL) and there was no way I could read ANYTHING on the computer.  I tried cleaning up the playroom and doing a seasonal switch of clothes for Shoo, but I just found it extremely annoying to not be able to see anything closer than an arms length away clearly.  

Finally, I figured out I had two options:  watch tv or run.  I decided to run.  I put on a baseball cap and a pair of Jones' sunglasses to block as much light as possible and headed out.  I planned a slow and easy three miler, as my legs are still a bit sore.  Well, it was definitely slow, but not at all easy.  I'm glad I did it as a recovery run, but I felt a bit like I was running with stronger gravity than usual.  I guess there really is a difference between a 13 mile long slow run and a 13 mile race!

Let's add Provinces too.

As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to run a race in all 50 states.  One of the states I was planning to hit this year was Maine.  Unfortunately, I did not get into the race I wanted to do and there aren't any others that are at the right time and are longer than a 5K.  Beer Geek suggested today that I should look for a race in Toronto.  I've found one that is the right distance (10K) and the right timing (mid-August), so if I can get all the other details to line up, I think I'm going to run the Toronto Island Women's 10K.  If I'm lucky, I'll also get to meet Marci and Melanie (anyone else in that area?).

My quads are super sore today.  They are making going down stairs a really difficult endeavor.  Since I spent most of the day doing laundry and putting stuff from the trip away, I was up and down our stairs about a million times.  Ouch!  Thankfully, other than that, I'm not really sore or tired.   I didn't run today, but Shoo and I did go to an exercise class.  I didn't enjoy the toning much, but the stretching definitely helped.

Tomorrow I'll finish putting together the beer basket for Jones' school auction, so hopefully I'll be able to give you some beer talk tomorrow and maybe even tempt you guys to bid.  ;o)

I have a 10 mile race at the end of April and another half in mid-May.  I need to figure out a training plan as my next goal is to get my pace below a 9 minute mile for longer runs.   I figure after the May race, my speed is going to drop (I suck at hot weather running), so I'd better get my PRs in while I can.

State #3 and 1:59:24

Didja miss me?  Short story:  I ran the half this morning and finished in 1:59:24.  Woot!

More information than you probably care to know:

We had an awesome weekend.    We headed up north around 1 on Friday.  After checking in and taking the boys to the pool, we met one of Beer Geek's college friends and her husband for dinner at the Iron Hill Brew Pub in Newark.  They had some really good stuff on tap, including a yummy porter that I had and a stout on a nitrogen tap that Beer Geek had.   We ended up taking a growler of the porter back to the hotel with us.

Saturday morning, we got up and I picked up my race packet.  Then we took the boys to the Delaware Museum of Natural History.  They had a blast!  Then we headed over to the Twin Lakes brewery for a quick tasting.  They happened to have a band playing, so we hung out for a short while and got to taste their pilsner and pale ale.  Beer Geek ended up getting a growler of the pale to take to his friend's house for with dinner that evening.  Next we went to the Iron Hill Brew Pub in Wilmington.  Their beer menu was a little bit different, so Beer Geek was able to get a cask conditioned Irish red.  I had a sampler glass of it and it was quite yummy.  I had realized that I was a bit dehydrated (I never drink enough when we travel plus I'd had a fair amount of beer on Friday), so I started hydrating and stopped drinking beer. :o(  We spent a relaxing evening at our friends' house and then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday morning dawned gray and dreary, but thankfully, not rainy.  Our hotel was only about four blocks from the start of the race and the race didn't start until 9:30am, so we were able to just wake up slowly and get ready.  Beer Geek and the boys walked me down to the start and hung out with me for a bit and then headed back to the hotel for some pool time.

The weather was absolutely perfect for running.  Just chilly enough to wear tights and a long sleeve running shirt, not so cold that I needed gloves.   There was a bit of drizzle at times, but it never turned into rain.  Wonderful cloud cover, so no glare at all.   The race started with a major downhill.  I had looked at the race elevation and had a plan.  I ran the first mile in 8:12.  Then the route leveled out for the next 5ish miles, where we got to run through the 'hood.    Quite the interesting group of spectators in that area, plus it always adds to the challenge of a race to get to suck down second hand smoke.  Let's just say I'd never run there by myself.   We passed the brewpub we'd had lunch at and then headed along the river for a while.  I was amazed at how good I felt, running approximately 9 minute miles.  Then we headed uphill for about 2.5 miles.  That part just sucked.  I did ok timewise, but I knew I was losing precious time on those hills.  The turnaround came at mile 9.5 and I began picking up the pace, knowing that the end of the race was going to kick my butt.   I raced down the hill as fast I could manage at that point and turned to go up the hill towards the finish line.  Oh.My.Goodness.  It was approximately .20 of hellish uphill.  I was kicking with everything I had in me and my pace was 8:56.  As I crossed the line, the clock said 2:00:15, so I knew my chip time would be sub-2!   I managed to not throw up on the young men collecting the chips and headed back to the hotel.

The race was really well organized, but I was glad I ran with my fuel belt.  There were five water stops, but only one had gatorade.  I did one Gu before the race and 1 during.  One more would have been nice, but I was too busy running down the hills to eat one before the end.  This was a really hilly course, so I'm pretty amazed I ran as fast as I did.  It was also a pretty fast set of runners.  I didn't even break the top 50% in my age group, my gender, or the race overall!

All in all, it was a good weekend.  We had good beer, the boys got to swim, Beer Geek got to visit a few weird geographical things, and I totally rocked a difficult course.  The only negative of the weekend was that sign up opened at noon for the Beach to Breakers 10K that I wanted to do.  I tried to sign up while at the hotel, but the race website was overwhelmed.  By the time we got home, it was already sold out.  :o(  Now I need to find a different race to do when we go on our summer vacation.

Newfangled running

I ran with the new ipod today.  I'm still loading music and haven't had time to set up a running playlist yet, so I just set it on shuffle.  It started off good with a peppy Ace of Base song, but the next song up was Air Supply.  While I like Air Supply, it's not a good choice for running LOL.  I skipped that one and oddly, all the rest of the songs were Wilco, Son Volt, and Uncle Tupelo (who are all sort of the same band).  The run was fine, but I'm not sure I liked it.  Even with the volume fairly low, I felt a little disconnected from my surroundings.  I may bring it along on long runs, but I doubt I'll start running every run with it any time soon.

I'm almost packed for the trip to Delaware.  It's been almost a year since I've run a non-local race.  I have one entire bag dedicated just to running stuff.  I have clothes for every possible weather permutation, as well as all sorts of other running items.

My goal for the half is to PR.  I should be able to do that since my last half took 2:18.  I'm a bit afraid to go for the sub-2.  If I start at a 9:09 pace, I'm afraid I'll bonk by mile 10.  If I start around 9:30, I don't think I'll be able to pick up the pace enough in the last part to "catch up".   My last half went so horribly that I'm a bit nervous.

Have a great weekend and I'll be back Sunday night with a race report on state #3 (and hopefully news of registration for the Maine race this summer).

A little extra time on my hands

Usually I've run at least 10 miles by this point in a week.  This week I've run 3.  I also skipped my workout class because Shoo had a dentist appointment.  This is doing weird things to my brain and horrible things to my eating habits.   I've been on a mini binge - too much chocolate and caffeine (yes, female things are playing into that too) and I've been cranky for no reason.   I've been trying to keep busy to minimize the damage to my waistline and my children.

Shoo and I went for a nice walk today with a friend and her sons.  We ended up at the Kettler Ice Rink.  It's where the Washington Capitals practice.  Only one player (the team captain, Chris Clark who's recovering from wrist surgery) was on the ice today, but the boys were quite happy to sit and watch him circle the rink.  When he got done, he called the boys down and gave them each a signed puck!  He was really nice to the little guys!  Shoo is sleeping with the puck under his pillow tonight LOL.

I'm still loving my Mac and my ipod.  I bought a small speaker that plugs into the ipod and have been greatly enjoying listening to music while I do stuff in the kitchen.  We have a rather extensive (although fairly old) CD collection and I've been too lazy to ever bring CDs up to our main CD player.  So far I've loaded 30 onto the Mac and have been enjoying putting it on shuffle.  There was mention in the comments about never seeing Westerberg and ABBA in the same sentence.  It's even weirder to have them play back to back LOL.  Today's additions included Husker Du, The Clash, Son Volt, The Replacements, Meatloaf, and Blondie  (yes, really).  I'm having so much fun LOL!  I think I'm going to need to figure out a way to separate Beer Geek approved music from non-Beer Geek approved music or I'll be using the skip button often when I'm with him.  ;o)

Do I look different?

I certainly feel different LOL.  The new Mac is awesome, but my fingers have a steep learning curve with the laptop keyboard.  I also got an ipod and so far have loaded ABBA, Air Supply, Uncle Tupelo, The Replacements, Deana Carter, and Paul Westerberg.  I need to load some Fugazi and then I have at least enough to keep me happy for a few days LOL.  (Yes, I know my music tastes are eclectic.   Beer Geek cringed when I mentioned Air Supply and ABBA LOL).

The shorts shopping didn't go so hot.  I did find some acceptable ones at Old Navy that I'll likely end up buying, but nothing that I loved.  Don't they design shorts for the hourglass figure anymore?  I did score some really nice winter running jackets at Sports Authority.  So nice, in fact, that I may wear them more with jeans than when running.   And I did discover a bathing suit style that works for my body.  I tried on a halter style top with some low cut board shorts.   I'm short waisted, but this made my torso look much longer.  That, combined with all the toning I've been doing, made for a really awesome look for me.  The bottoms didn't fit quite right, so I didn't buy the suit, but now I know what style to try on at other stores.

I was in a crappy mood this afternoon, so I did a half hearted run on the treadmill.  3 miles in 28:15.  Eh.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nice out, but I think Beer Geek will be getting home late.  That means my last pre-race run will be Thursday, which will be a chilly day.  Oh, and the current forecast for the race is in the high 30s.  That's chilly, but better than hot.

Maybe tomorrow I'll delve into my reasoning for not aiming for a sub-2.  Or maybe I'll just talk about all the chocolate I've been eating in the name of carbo loading...

Excuse me, I'm busy stimulating the economy

Since I have no long run scheduled for tomorrow, I'm left with some time on my hands. Granted, I could spend my time doing housework (it's currently impossible to walk across the playroom and the dining room rug crunches when you step on it) or reading (I have a HUGE pile of books and magazines to read right now) or even just relaxing. Instead, I have a big day of shopping planned.

Beer Geek and I are buying a Mac tomorrow. I am SO excited! We've been discussing this for years and he's finally willing to take the plunge. While there, I hope to join the rest of modern society and also get an ipod. I'm not planning to run with it, but I want to put a docking station in the kitchen so I can listen to music when I'm cooking. (What? You thought I'd change my running style? Maybe someday.)

Then I get to shop for my second least favorite thing: shorts (my least favorite, as you might guess, is a bathing suit.) I have two sets of shorts right now: the ones I bought after Jones was born that are now 7 years old and falling apart from so much use and the ones I bought after Shoo was born that, well, don't fit. I was super skinny after Shoo was born, thanks to multiple food allergies on his part that had my diet down to four foods at one point. I'm back to my normal weight, plus despite the fact that I run long distances, my thigh muscles are more similar in size and shape to a sprinter, ie pretty darn bulky. I'm just hoping that there are some new styles out this year. Last year's options were bermudas (by the time those fit my thighs, I can fit two of me in the waist band) and short shorts (um, I'm a late 30s mom of two. I'm sooo NOT wearing short shorts). So, wish me luck as we are going to Key West in April, so I absolutely need to find some.

After the torture, I mean, short shopping, I'm planning to finish my purchases for the beer basket. I have the 12 beers and a few cool trinkets, so I just need to find a basket and a few things to pull it all together. I'll post a picture and a list of the contents once I get it all pulled together.

Oh, and while I'm throwing money around, I'm also planning to throw some towards the Arthritis Society in support of Reese's Run!

Accidental tempo

Today I had a 6 mile "race pace" run planned. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out my planned race pace. As much as I'd love a sub-2 half, I don't think I'm ready to run 13 miles at a 9:09 pace. So, I decided to run at about a 9:20 pace. I hurried home from church and hit the road so that I could run before it got into the 70s.

I did the first mile a bit too fast at 9:06, but it was largely downhill, so I didn't worry too much. Somehow, I did mile 2 in 8:47. Oops. I made an on the spot decision to turn the run into a tempo run and did miles 3 and 4 at about 8:45 as well. Mile 5 was my usual recovery "I'm about to puke" pace of 9:19 and then I managed to speed up for the last mile to 9:10. I ended up finishing the 6 miles in 54:04. I had Garmin set to show me average speed per lap, not overall time or I would have sped up sooner and finished in under 54 minutes LOL.

It did end up getting pretty warm today, so I'm glad I got the run in "early". I'm just not ready yet for sunscreen and sweat when running. I was a bit dehydrated from spending all day yesterday at the park with the kids, so I need to remember to drink more water next weekend before the race. I did have a beer last night (a Hook and Ladder Brown) and that may be why I ran so fast to start. ;o)

There goes my speed...

Today was absolutely gorgeous! Low 60s when I first went outside and it continued to warm up to about 72. I needed to do a short run, so I sent Beer Geek and the boys to the park and I headed out for a quick three miler. I wore a short sleeve shirt and capris. By the time I finished running, I was soaking wet and in serious need of water. My actual times were ok (9:41, 9:05, 9:18), but my rate of perceived exertion was MUCH higher than it should have been. While I love 60 degree temps, my body is not ready to run in them. I'd actually rather have next week's race be cold, rather than hot.

Tomorrow is my last "hard" run before the race. I was planning 6 miles at about a 9:15 pace, but it's supposed to be pretty warm again. I think I may end up having to slow the pace down to closer to 9:30.

I did see something pretty funny while I was out running today. A guy was walking towards me on the sidewalk of a busy road. I didn't really pay much attention to him, but then suddenly he bent down and then jumped to the other side of the sidewalk. He did the same thing on the other side. I'm thinking "WTF, should I turn around and run the other direction?" and then suddenly realized what he was doing. He was practicing the moves for a Bolivian dance that the dance groups around here do in all the local parades. As soon as I got close, he stopped, but it totally cracked me up that I've seen enough Bolivian dances that I actually recognized the rythym and the moves LOL.

The downside of goals

So far this year, having specific goals has gone a long way towards keeping me active. I've made it through the worst of the winter (fingers crossed) in good shape. But, as I attempt to begin a taper, I'm hitting a mental road block. I had the official goal of working out 5 days a week and an unofficial goal of hitting 20 miles a week. So far, I've done really well with both.

BUT, I need to give my body a break. I know I'll run a stronger half marathon if I take it easier next week and take two full days off before the race. One of the things I've definitely learned is that my body needs rest. Full on, do nothing but walking, rest. And I'll do it, but there definitely will be some guilty feelings involved (even though my logical mind knows why I'm doing it). I haven't used a training plan for this half (just tried to include intervals, tempos, and long runs), but I think I might need to take a look at the taper of some plans.

I'm still a bit sore today. Who knew that walking slowly on packed snow while pulling a sled would be the hardest.calf.workout.ever. I could barely walk down the stairs this morning! Despite that, I did go for about a three mile walk this morning and a three and a half mile run this afternoon. Apparently all the speedy runs are paying off. My legs felt tired, but otherwise I felt great and I managed the 3.5 in 31:41 (9:21, 8:54, 8:37). Amazingly, I wasn't really pushing at all and was nowhere near my lactate threshold. Woot!

(And a quick note to Glaven, I've made my blog stop insisting that you link to it. That's your gift this week. I'll talk about beer more later, including mention of a planned tour of a brewery the day before the half marathon.)

Cross Training

I'm pretty much just a runner. I don't bike. I don't swim. I very seldom do videos or take classes. But the last few days, I've done more cross training than I have in a very long time. I've shoveled snow, I've chipped ice off of our unplowed street, I've pulled Shoo and Jones around our yard on their sled more times than I can count.

And I hurt. My shoulders ache, my thighs are tight, and my calves are crying. CRYING, I tell you! I'm sort of scared of what I'm going to feel like tomorrow! I used to think I was in pretty good shape. Now I'm beginning to wonder.

Actually, I must be in pretty decent shape. Beer Geek and I are getting new life insurance and we got approved at the Preferred + level, which means we are darned healthy (and that our premiums will be low. Sweet!) Guess all the running and playing with the kids is paying off!

Long cold run

In case it's not obvious from previous posts, I don't like cold weather. If it's below 30 degrees, especially if there is any wind involved, I'm going to hit the treadmill. Add in a little snow and ice and guess where I'm likely to be...

Not today. I wanted to run 14 miles today. It was 19 degrees with a windchill that made it feel like 4. Fortunately, it was sunny and most of the neighborhood got plowed (not my street, that was complete ice). So I bundled up - running tights, running pants, running tank, long sleeve tech shirt, fleece half zip, unlined windbreaker, thorlos socks, hat, and two pairs of gloves. (and yes, I really did need all the layers).

I decided the safest place to run would be in the neighborhood, as many of the side walks in and around the neighborhood had not been shoveled. After I walked very carefully down my street, I took off through the neighborhood. At mile 1, I was convinced I'd be on the treadmill by the end of mile 2. By mile 4, I figured I could get the amount on the treadmill down to 7 miles. At mile 11.5, the wind picked up and I really thought I was going to give in, but I wanted to finish the run outside. I compromised and only ran 13.5 instead of 14. I finished 13.1 in 2:09:38, which was pretty good considering the number of times I had to slow to a walk to avoid ice, puddles or cars.

Today was my last long run before the half marathon. I'm going to do one more longish speed workout (6 miles) this weekend, but the rest of my running will be short and easy from now until next Thursday. Then I'll take Friday and Saturday as rest days and run the race on Sunday. My goal is to finish under 2:10.

Please let spring arrive soon!

February in Review

So far, having goals, rather than resolutions seems to be working for me...

1) Run at least three half marathons, with the eventual goal of a sub-2 hour half. I have my first half of the year in less than two weeks. It's the Citizens Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon-2009 in Wilmington, DE. I took a look at the elevation and it looks like miles 6.5-8 or so will suck because of a big hill. Fun (not). I also recently signed up for the Pacer's Running Festival Half in May to replace the Marine Corps Historic Half in May and I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the Philadelphia Distance Run in the fall with a friend. Who knows when/if the sub-2 will happen. Between sick kids and snow, I didn't hit as many long runs as planned. I'm hoping to do 14 miles tomorrow, but I expect that they'll be a really slow 14 as it's pretty icy around here right now.

2) Run races in at least three new states (but I'm aiming for 5).
Still looking good here. Delaware is ON. Since the ME sign up is immediately after the half in Delaware, I'm planning to take our new Mac notebook with me and sign up from the hotel (let's hope the purchase of said Mac goes smoothly next week). Still looks like I'll be doing a 5K in Florida with my dad. I think I'll be in Wisconsin when the Lighthouse run is this year, so dad and I are planning to do that together. As I mentioned above, I also am likely to hit Pennsylvania this fall when I run with my friend. So 5 is definitely possible still. I'm chomping at the bit to get started, so it's a good thing DE is less than two weeks away.

3) Workout five times a week. This seems to be going well. I take a class one day a week and run 4. I only had one week this month that was less then five. I did manage closer to 23 miles every week though.

4) Stop stressing about my weight and start lifting weights. This month wasn't quite as good with the weight workouts, but it wasn't bad until the end of the month. I really fell apart when Shoo got sick and I had a few days of little sleep. Somehow I still managed to run, but I just didn't have the energy to strength train. I got my act back together tonight and did upper body and abs, so I'm on track for March.

5) Run at least 8-10 races this year.
So far I've run a 12K. I know I have two halfs and a 5K yet this spring. Hopefully I'll do a 10 miler in June, a 10K in August, a half in September, and a 5K in November. Looks like I need to find something for April and October.

Having these goals has REALLY helped me this winter. It would have been so much easier just to sit on my butt and drink beer in February, but having a goal of 5 workouts a week has gotten me out the door or onto the treadmill many times. With the lone exception of Sunday, getting started running has always resulted in at least a three mile run and often more than that.

I have a new goal, starting now. I need to start fueling my body better. I've been eating too much lately and a lot of it is "crap" and/or mindless eating. I need to eat more fruits and start eating some sort of veggie at lunch. I need to plan my snacks instead of grabbing Girl Scout cookies and sweet cereal. Hopefully making this an actual goal will get me to pay more attention to healthy eating.

Speaking of eating, my stomach FINALLY feels better. I'm beginning to think I had a mild version of what Shoo had. It lasted far longer than an upset stomach from too much grease or too much beer should last!

Beer, beer, and more beer (and a wee little bit of running)

Beer Geek and I ditched the kids for a day and night of beer fun around Charlottesville. We recently discovered a nice triangle of a brewery and two brewpubs, as well as a nice B&B. We headed south around noon and got to Starr Hill Brewery with a bit of time to spare before their tour. We stopped at the tasting bar and got to taste all of their yummy beers. (Free, BTW and they are extremely generous). Here I am feeling nice and mellow about halfway through the tasting. I think I was watching the bartender explain their beers to someone. I thought Beer Geek was off taking pictures of brewing equipment, but apparently he was also snapping pics of me.

Stop 2 was Devil's Backbone Brewpub. It was super busy, which was a bit surprising as it was kind of remote and we got there around 4pm. No worries though. We found seats at the bar and had a sampler and some green chili cheese fries. The beers were decent, but just off the mark from being really good. It's a pretty new pub though, so I'm sure they'll work out the kinks soon. Here I am at the bar, in front of all their taps.

Next we made a quick stop at our B&B, the Afton Mountain Bed and Breakfast. We checked in and then verified that some friends would be meeting us for dinner. Then it was time to head to the third beer tasting.

Blue Mountain Brewing has a small "bar food" menu - sandwiches and pizza and the like and REALLY good beers. We got a sampler and one of their pizzas - the brat pizza (I would later regret this). J and J, some of our really close friends, showed up and we got to hang out with them sans kids for the first time in probably 7.5 years! It was awesome to actually have a conversation without constant kid interruption. Here I am at Blue Mountain.
The evening was awesome, but the weather started getting nasty, so we headed back to the B&B. Unfortunately, I woke up at 11 with a horrible stomach ache, likely courtesy of the pizza, and I'm still having trouble eating anything other than bland stuff. It was a real bummer because the B&B had an awesome breakfast for us and I could barely eat any.

Here's what we woke up to this morning:

My tummy ache has continued all day. We even went to our favorite Tex-Mex place with my parents this evening and I ate just a few bites. I tried running on the treadmill and barely made it 2 miles. Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow. We are expecting 5 or so inches of snow tonight, so any running tomorrow will likely be on the 'mill. Sigh.

All in all, it was an AWESOME weekend and I highly recommend all the places we went! I was able to get some neat stuff for the auction basket as well.

(I'll add links later. I need to get some kids to bed now...)